Ostensibly designed to mark the
Queen's Diamond Jubilee,
the unveiling of a blue crown a mere twenty-four hours after Manchester City snatched the Premiership diadem from the jaws of Manchester United would seem to better reflect the seismic shift that has occurred in football this season than the Queen's illustrious sixty year reign.

De Beers, of course, will admit to no such ludicrous coincidence. This is a crown fit for a queen, outfitted in De Beer blue and studded with 974 diamonds, of which 797 are polished and 177 are rough. The centrepiece is a gut-wrenchingly beautiful uncut 73 carat diamond, which the jewellers happened to have lying around in a vault in France.

The 73 carat diamond that sits astride the crown. Photo: De Beers.

"We could have used a bigger diamond," a De Beers employee explained at the unveiling in the flagship store on Old Bond Street, "but this one just felt perfect. The uncut diamond wields a unique power and brings luck. Napoleon carried one in his pocket every time he went into battle."

The Hallmark setting (the pointillist textured metal that grips the diamonds) is based on the De Beers Talisman design, characterised by a mix of rough and polished diamonds. The 73 carat wonder is suspended above a sphere studded with a mix of amber, yellow and brown diamonds of varying size; the lower band features two more uncut whoppers of 28 and 26 carats respectively, meaning that every single setting has had to be hand-crafted.

The sphere contains 181 diamonds, a mixture of uncut and polished. Photo: De Beers.

Then comes the bottom section, punctuated with negative space, intended to symbolise the opportunity of future generations who will ideally be able to insert their own baguettes into the metalwork. Obviously, De Beers is aimed at the kind of customer for whom 'baguette' denotes elongated diamonds rather than loaves of bread.

The crown will spend one month in pride of place at Harrods, on display from May 15 to June 15, and will then embark upon a peripatetic existence. After a spell in the swanky flagship store on Old Bond Street, the crown will tour Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and New York.

What then, for the Talisman Crown? De Beers insists it will be kept intact for posterity, and will not rule out the possibility of a private sale in the future. If Sheikh Mansour, Abu Dhabi owner of Manchester City, happens to come across it on display in Harrods, who's to say it won't end up on the head of Mancini next season?